Italian artists value tradition ? from the carvers of conch shells into cameos, to glassblowers, to the makers of music.
“I have been playing the mandolin since I was 9,” said Carlo Aonzo, a native of Savona, Italy. “It is a tradition in my family [and] my father taught me in the Italian classical technique.”
Aonzo joins the Baltimore Mandolin Quartet this Sunday for a late-afternoon journey into the varied and extensive repertoire of classical music written specifically for mandolin.
“There is quite a bit of music from the 1800s and early 1900s,” said quartet member Laura Norris. “We will join Carlo as he plays Vivaldi.”
The Baltimore Mandolin Quartet, an adjunct of the Baltimore Mandolin Orchestra, is composed of Tony Norris on classical guitar, Jonathan Jensen playing mandola (a slightly larger instrument with a deeper mandolin sound), and both Dave Evans and Laura Norris on mandolin.
“They are excellent,” said Orchestra Concert Mistress Joyce Adams. “They play together very well.”
Laura Norris is a trained violinist who studied at the Royal Academy of Music in England. She picked up the mandolin in 1998, after hearing her husband perform with the group. She fell in love with what she calls the mandolin’s “feathery sound.”
Carlo Aonzo studied with Ugo Orlandi, the current patriarch of the Italian mandolin camp, at the Cesare Pollini Conservatory of Padua, Italy. He has toured throughout northern Europe, Italy, and America as a soloist and with chamber ensembles and orchestras. His performances have been recognized with awards in both Venice and the United States.
Carlo?s numerous recordings reflect his scholarship and passion to champion the mandolin?s forgotten past. That passion carries over to his teaching where he is a regular faculty member at the mandolin-oriented Kaufman Kamp, and teaches annual June workshops in New York.
Most importantly, Carlo Aonzo respects the mandolin as “a noble instrument” and is intent on spreading classical mandolin history and performance throughout America.
“The mandolin is my life,” Aonzo said emphatically.
IF YOU GO
Baltimore Mandolin Quartet with special guest Carlo Aonzo
» Venue: An die Musik LIVE!, 409 N. Charles St., Baltimore
» Time: 4 p.m. Sunday
» Tickets: $20; $15 students and seniors
» More info: 410-385-2638
